


Run Away With Me

by indoissetep



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Jess/Rey, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Stormpilot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 21:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indoissetep/pseuds/indoissetep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn gets dragged into a mind-numbing fundraiser by Rey and starts to plot a daring escape. The only problem is: he needs a driver.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Run Away With Me

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure something similar to this must have been done already, but the inspiration struck me and I had to write it.
> 
> Title is from the Carly Rae Jepsen song that inspired this mess. Don't judge me based on my (terrible) music taste.

"Still can't believe I let you drag me to this thing,” Finn says, looking around at a sea of unfamiliar faces, most of which look like they belong on dusty old portraits or shit-speckled statues around campus.

The event itself is not being held on campus, for some reason that Finn can’t even begin to fathom.

“Hey, at least there’s free booze!” Rey replies cheerfully as she grabs two glasses from a passing waiter and hands one to Finn.

“There _is_ that,” Finn concedes, clinking his glass against Rey’s and taking a sip of his drink. It tastes very old and very expensive, and he wonders how the faculty plans to raise any money when they’re spending so much on whiskey.

From their place at Professor Skywalker’s table – Rey’s scruffy advisor, whom Finn had never even met before tonight – they have a fairly unimpeded view of the room. Not that there’s much to look at. As previously stated, the party is mostly being attended by ancient members of Political Science faculty.

There is, however, one bright young beam of light amidst this sea of tweeds and gray hair. Sitting next to Professor Organa – Rey’s scary Comparative Studies teacher – is a handsome Assistant Professor by the name of Poe Dameron.

The reason why Finn knows the man’s name is that he has asked Rey. The reason why he has asked Rey is that he had seen the man many times while waiting for Rey to leave Prof. Organa’s class. And the reason why Finn hangs out outside Prof. Organa’s class so much is that he has a free period and thus often finds himself waiting for Rey so that they can go grab lunch together.

There’s nothing more to it.

“You’re staring,” Rey whispers into Finn’s ear and elbows him in the ribs.

“Am not,” he says lamely.

“I could introduce you, you know. He’s really nice. And he’s not old, he’s 32.”

“And you know all of this why?”

“Because I talk to people. I’m _sociable_ ,” Rey informs him, defensively.

“Yeah, right,” Finn snorts. Rey is about as sociable as a sand cat. And she fights like one, too, but that is beside the point.

“Oooooh, and I think I’ve just spotted someone I’d like to socialize with!” she drawls, twisting around in her chair.

Finn follows Rey’s gaze across the room and, wouldn’t you know it, there it is. Just as expected, a swish of glossy black hair disappearing in the crowd.

Rey turns to fix him with a shit-eating grin.

“No! Rey, no!” he says, very clearly, like he’s speaking to a misbehaving dog. Or cat. “Don’t even think about it!”

“Fiiiiiiinn, pleeeeaaaseee!” she grabs the front of his shirt, shoulders rising up towards her ears.

“No way! You’re not leaving me here alone to go chase after Pava!” he whispers heatedly.

“Finn, Finny, Finnikins, please! I have to! That sweet mouth, it’s calling to me!” she finishes in such a loud whisper that it is a miracle Professors Skywalker and San Tekka don’t hear her, deep as they are in conversation.

Rey’s eyes grow huge and pleading. Finn hardens his. She stares at him. He stares right back. She pouts. He cracks.

“Damnit!”

“Here, here, take my keys,” she is already fishing inside her tiny excuse for a purse for her car keys and handing them to Finn, “Just take BB-8. You can leave whenever you want.”

“And how will you get back?”

She waggles her eyebrows, eyes glinting wickedly. Finns huffs and rolls his eyes.

She grabs his face with both hands and kisses him hard on the cheek, leaving a sticky mess of lipstick behind. Finn rubs at it furiously with a napkin.

“I’ll see you in the morning! I love you, you’re the best!”

“Just. Go!” he shoves her away, half exasperation and half fondness.

 

***

 

Although Finn’s major has prepared him for a great many things, it has not prepared him for the kind of discussion Professors Skywalker and San Tekka seem to want to include him in. It’s very nice of them to try to keep him involved, but it’s been an hour and he is still not entirely sure what it is they are talking about.

That’s it, he’ll just go home. No reason for him to stay here if Rey’s entertained shoving her tongue in Pava’s mouth. Or... Lower, whatever.

Having thus made up his mind, Finn says his goodbyes to the professors – who mumble in vague acknowledgement – and stands up to make his swift exit.

The whole room tilts several degrees to one side, tries to right itself again, overshoots and ends up tilting a few degrees to the other side. Finn grabs the edge of the table in what he hopes is an inconspicuous attempt at steadying himself.

_Woooaaah, boy. Oh no, this is bad. Really bad._

The room continues to slosh from side to side, or maybe it’s just Finn’s brain that has turned to pure triple-distilled alcohol inside his skull. He glances down at Skywalker and San Tekka to see if any of them are aware of his state of hopeless inebriation. They are still going on about the complexity of post-war relations in 1950s Europe as affected by the shift in global powers – or _something_ like that – so he figures his secret is safe.

Finn takes Rey’s keys from his pocket and stares at them dumbly. There is no way he can drive himself back like this. Fuck, there is no way he can _walk_ back like this without getting lost, or mugged, or hit by a car, or all of the above.

But there is also no way he can sit back down and listen to God-knows how many more hours of whatever it is that these two mothballs are talking about.

What the fucking fuck is he going to do?

He runs his eyes around the room – just his eyes; he knows better than to turn his head too fast – praying for a glimpse of Rey, who has always been much better than him at holding her alcohol and who was supposed to be the designated driver in the first place!

But of course there is no trace of her in sight. He rakes the room for a familiar face instead. Anyone, any rope to rescue him from this ever-deepening sea of expensive booze and boredom. His mind registers something, belatedly, and he quickly looks back at the spot his eyes have just slid over.

Professor Organa’s table, where she is deep in conversation with a professor with bulging eyes and an alarmingly red complexion. Between them, Poe Dameron looks bored into stupor as he sloshes the water in his glass from side to side.

Water.

 _I have a plan!_ Screams half of Finn’s brain.

 _It’s a terrible plan!_ Screams the other half.

But the first half seems to have seized control of his legs, for they’re already dragging him towards Organa’s table.

_Okay, stay calm, stay calm._

He reaches the table way too quickly, no time to properly brace himself for what he is about to do.

“Excuse me, Professors,” Finn says, in his best immitation of a perfectly sober individual. Everyone at the table glances up at him. “Professor Skywalker was asking if he could have a word with Poe.”

Poe’s eyebrows rise ever so slightly and a small crease appears between them.

“Well, you’d better go see what Luke wants, Poe,” says Prof. Organa to him. “And tell him I told him to come out of exile and come sit with us.”

“Will do,” Poe says and stands up to follow Finn.

As they make their way around tables and waiters, Poe runs a hand through his hair and says “So... I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Finn. Turn here,” he grabs the other man by the hand and steers him toward a shadowed corner of the room, near the door that keeps spilling out waiter after waiter.

“What’s going on?” Poe asks when they stop, not sounding too alarmed, Finn hopes.

“This is a rescue!” Finn drunk-whispers, looking over his shoulder for... Well, he’s not sure who he’s afraid is going to intervene, but best to keep a lookout anyway, “I’m helping you escape!”

“Wha- escape?” Poe’s eyebrows shoot up, the skin of his forehead folding in little waves. He looks a little like a shar-pei. A very, very handsome shar-pei that Finn wants to kiss. Alright, that’s messed up. “Why are you doing this?”

Finn racks his brain for an answer that doesn’t involve the words handsome, shar-pei or kiss.

“’Cuz it’s the right thing to do,” God, what is he, in a movie or something? “Look, I’m going to make a run for it and I couldn’t leave you at that table. You looked like you were being tortured!”

Poe leans forward, dangerously close to Finn’s face, and... Sniffs.

“You need a driver,” he says, grinning.

“I need a driver,” Finn admits. Busted.

Poe’s grin grows impossibly wider.

“Well, you’ve got one.”

 

***

 

“That... Is some paintjob,” Poe stands in the parking lot, hands on his hips, considering the orange and white monstrosity that is BB-8.

“Yeah, it’s...” Finn searches for the right words to describe the old Beetle, “Bad.”

To hear Rey speak of the car, anyone would think that it was a cute little girl car. Quirky and unique with it’s oddly-colored bumpers and fenders, and aged in a cool, vintage sort of way. Such illusions were inevitably shattered once you actually _saw_ the car.

“It’s not mine!” Finn feels the need to clarify, “It’s my friend Rey’s.”

“Rey, right. From Professor Organa’s class.”

“Yup, that’s the one.”

“So, you said she was your...” Poe trails off uncertainly.

And oh, OH! Finn sees what he’s doing there!

“Friend!” he blurts out, “Just, just that, just friend. Actually, not just friend. She’s almost my sister. Anyway, she’s probably off somewhere sucking face with Jessika Pava right now,” he finishes in a hurry, half hoping that Poe doesn’t catch it.

He does, and laughs heartily, head tilting back. Finn has to bite his lip and tell his whole body to _chill out_.

“Can you drive a stick?” Finn asks, hoping that if he doesn’t acknowledge the innuendo, Poe won’t either.

“Buddy, I can drive anything.”

 

 ***

 

“Yeah, see? There’s the problem,” Poe says, pointing at a perfectly innocent-looking part of BB-8’s guts. “Someone’s replaced the original generator with an alternator, which normally would work fine, but the current is set too high and that’s causing the ignition coil to overheat.”

Finn does his best to nod and mmm at all the appropriate moments, but that’s a little hard to do when you don’t know what the hell the other person is talking about.

Why does this keep happening to him tonight?

They hadn’t made it very far before the old piece of junk spluttered to a stop and refuse to start up again.

“So you’re saying you can’t fix it...?” Finn finally asks.

“Not without the proper tools, no. I could call my dad for help, but I don’t wanna wake him up at this hour,” Poe says, snapping the hood shut.

It is unreasonably late. Or early, as it might be. The sky towards the east is slowly beginning to mature into a lighter shade, but on their other side, over the ocean, it is still an inky black.

Their exploration of BB-8’s trunk yielded the following items: Rey’s climbing gear, in complete disarray; a working flashlight, which they used in their examination of the car; a few course books that had seen better days; and a slightly mouldy beach towel.

No tools whatsoever.

Poe looks down at his hands, slightly greasy, and looks around for somewhere to wipe them. Finn offers him a corner of the mouldy beach towel.

“Thanks. How’s your head?”

“Oh, it’s... It’s fine. I’m mostly sober now.”

An over-confident assertion, if ever there was one.

“Well, if you’re feeling up to it, we could walk down to the beach. Wait for a more acceptable hour to call someone,” Poe offers, pointing a thumb at the path that winds its way down to the sand.

“Sure, that sounds good,” says Finn, a little too eagerly.

 _It sounds great, perfect, like the set up for a cheesy romantic scene,_ Finn thinks. _Just don’t fuck this up._

So they take the flashlight and the beach towel and walk, mostly in silence, down to the beach.

Once there, they settle down on the towel, which is a bit too small to sit two. Not that Finn is complaining.

They just sit for a while, watching the waves coming in to lap at the sand. The briny air seems to dispell what’s left of Finn’s inebriation.

“So, how come you know so much about cars?” he asks after some time.

“My mom was a car enthusiast, nay, fanatic,” Poe says proudly, “Dad’s a mechanic, still working even now.”

“And you turned into an Assistant Professor. Where did they go wrong?” Finn half turns to him with a cheeky smile.

“Hahaha, yeah. The family disappointment. Dad cries himself to sleep every night.”

The corners of Poe’s eyes crinkle up when he smiles, and Finn is in so much trouble.

“What about you? Got any family?” Poe asks through the haze in Finn’s mind.

“Not really,” he looks away, at the crashing waves, “Parents died when I was sixteen.”

“I’m sorry,” Poe’s voice is regretful.

“It’s alright,” when did his perfect romantic scene take this depressing turn? And why did that have to happen _after_ he sobered up? “Rey’s parents took me in, pretty much adopted me. They’re such good people, they didn’t have to... I mean, they knew me ‘cuz Rey and I had been friends for a long time, but they didn’t have to do that, you know? They didn’t have to help me the way they did... But I’m thankful that they did.”

Poe’s hand comes to rest over his, and Finn laces their fingers together.

“Is that why you decided to go into medical school?” he asks quietly, carefully, “So you would have a chance to help people, too?”

He turns back to Poe and catches the other man looking at him with soft dark eyes.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I...” something clicks in Finn’s mind, his eyes narrow, “I never told you I was a med student.”

Poe turns away from him quickly, whispering something that sounds a lot like “idiot!” under his breath.

“How did you know that?” he asks, before a terrible thought crosses his mind, “Did Rey talk to you about me?!”

“No! No, I...” Poe’s hands come up, either trying to defend himself or to placate Finn, “Rey talked to Jess, and Jess talked to me.”

How is that any better?! Finn feels like he is about to have a stroke.

“And told you what?!”

“Just that... That you might be interested in me,” Poe offers with a weak smile and a shrug.

“You...! You knew all along and... What about all that stuff about trying to figure out if Rey and I were dating?”

“Acting,” another shrug.

Finn’s breath comes out in an undignified huff, and then he’s scrambling to get up, to get away from Poe.

“Hey, hey!” Poe looks mortified and his hand shoots up to grab Finn’s, “Look, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to trick you or anything. I was just, I dunno, buying time.”

“What for?” Finn is not sure he’s not going to kick Poe, but he allows the other man to keep his hold on his hand.

“Well, ‘cuz I couldn’t exactly make a move while you were drunk. That’d be fucked up.”

Finn’s anger drains away, into the sand and out to sea. In its place he’s left with a mix of confusion and hope.

“So... You wanted to make a move on me then?”

“Ahn, yeah,” Poe says, like that’s the dumbest question he’s ever heard, which is saying a lot, considering that he’s a teacher.

“And d’you still want to make a move on me now?”

“Yes!”

“Alright.”

Finn’s on his knees and kissing Poe before the other man can get another word out. The kiss is clumsy at first, too much momentum and eagerness behind it. But then Poe brings a hand to curl over the back of Finn’s neck, and they fall into a perfect rhythm.

Soon, Poe’s pulling Finn down on top of him, the two of them stretching out on the beach towel – whose smell Finn is doing his best to ignore. Poe drags his fingers through Finn’s hair, nails grazing his scalp, and Finn sighs into his mouth.

Their legs get tangled together, Finn’s thigh coming up to press against Poe’s crotch, causing the man to arch against him and kiss him more deeply.

“Oh, they’re fine. They’re just making out.”

The familiar voice causes Finn’s head to snap up fast enough to give him whiplash.

“Rey, Jess, hi,” Poe twists his head to look at the two girls and give them an awkward wave.

“Hi, Reeeeeyyy,” Finn growls through a very toothy, very forced smile, “So nice of you to join us!”

“It _is_ awfully nice of me to come see if you were okay,” she says, chin lifting and one hand coming to rest dramatically on her breast, “Why, Jess was just driving me home when I saw my beautiful BB-8 abandoned on the side of the road, no trace of my precious brother anywhere. I was worried someone had dragged him down to the beach and murdered him.”

“Oh, I’m not the one who’s going to get dragged and murdered!”

Finn begins to rise to his feet, but Poe exclaims “Alright, alright, easy there!” and holds him back with an arm around his chest. Finn still feels like throttling Rey, but he is also more than happy to allow himself to be held by Poe.

Rey and Jess exchange a _look_.

“Actually,” Poe’s saying from behind him, “I sent Jess a message earlier and told her we were here. I thought we could all go grab breakfast together.”

Finn is more than a little annoyed because a) this man is full of secrets; and b) these three have clearly been conspiring against him for way too long. He’s about to voice his discontent, when Jess pipes up with:

“Yup, like a proper double date.”

And, okay, Finn is still going to make all three of them pay for being sneaky little shits, but a double date is another cheesy romantic cliché he is willing to try today.  

**Author's Note:**

> If Poe's explanation of what's wrong with BB-8 doesn't make any sense, that's because I don't know the first thing about cars.
> 
> Kudos and comments are always deeply appreciated;


End file.
